There are a variety of active materials for use in household and commercial applications including air fresheners and insecticides. These materials are usually packaged in solid form in containers having apertures to expose the material to ambient air. Frequently, products of this type are packaged in containers having a plurality of apertures which are closed at the time of purchase but which are opened at the time of use to allow air to circulate over the surface of the solid active material. In the case of an air freshener, the scent escapes from the container to freshen the room in which it is located. In the case of an insecticide, the scent attracts insects which can enter the container via the apertures and upon coming in contact with the insecticide are killed.
In one type of carton, the openings are covered with a panel of release paper. When the consumer is ready to use the product, the release paper is pealed from the face of the container to allow ambient air to circulate through the openings. In another type of carton, the consumer activates the air freshener material be squeezing to release an encapsulated active ingredient. In yet another type of carton, holes in an outer carton wall are opened or closed by a slidable inner sheet which acts as a valve.
Molded plastic containers, usually consisting of a molded shell and a separate molded cover, also have been employed to hold air freshener material. However, the cost of making them is very high. The shell and cover must be molded in separate operations and stored in unassembled form until the air freshener insert is loaded. The cover then must be glued or otherwise secured to the shell to provide a closed container. The extra time required for the separate manufacturing and assembly operations results in added manufacturing costs for the package and therefore ultimately for the product sold therein. In addition, the fact that the molded shells and covers must be shipped and stored in their molded form will also cause increased transportation and storage costs.
In a prior patent application, U.S. Ser. No. 25,012, filed Mar. 29, 1979, entitled "Carton With Adjustable Air Passages", assigned to the same Assignee as the present invention, an improved package for controllably releasing active materials to the air is disclosed which has inner and outer slidable members constructed of a sheet material wherein the inner and outer members can be slidably moved between fully opened and closed positions or positions intermediate thereof. The carton has a plurality of adjustable air passages and comprises: (a) a first tapered sleeve forming an outer carton unit, the first sleeve being closed at at least one end and having a plurality of spaced openings therein, and (b) a second tapered sleeve forming an inner carton unit, the second sleeve being nested within the first sleeve and being slidable between a first and a second position (or a position intermediate thereof), the second sleeve being closed at at least the end opposite the end closed in the first sleeve and having a plurality of spaced openings therein arranged complementally to spaced openings in the outer carton unit to align with the openings therein when the inner carton unit is in the first position, and to align with the spaces between the openings in the outer carton unit when the inner carton unit is in the second position. When opened or partially opened, the active material can be released to the air.
In the parent U.S. Pat. No. 4,277,014, entitled "Improved Air Freshener", assigned to the same Assignee as the present invention, an improved air freshener is disclosed which includes a regular, polygonal lower unit and a complementally shaped upper unit which are movable relative to each other along a common, longitudinal axis. The upper unit has a plurality of openings spaced about its top wall which are selectively opened by relative movement of the units away from each other to enable air to circulate through the openings to contact and diffuse an active air freshener material housed within the lower unit. The top of the lower unit has a plurality of triangularly shaped panels which cover the air freshener material and act with the plurality of openings in the upper unit to provide air passages to the air freshener material. The upper and lower units have a specific mechanism for precluding full axial separation of the upper and lower units when they are pulled in an opposite direction. This locking mechanism comprises a flap cut out of the triangular flaps in the bottom unit and folded outwardly and then downwardly and an inwardly bent and glued flange on the bottom of the side wall of the upper unit.
However, this type of locking mechanism requires a large amount of material, extensive cutting of the paperboard forming the carton and is not readily set up by machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,196,843 to Garmon issued on Apr. 8, 1980 and assigned to the same Assignee as the present invention, discloses a pair of telescoping upper and lower carton units precluded from full seperation by downwardly folded locking flaps on the lower unit and U-shaped cut-outs on the upper unit receiving the locking flaps. However, this locking mechanism also requires considerable material and extensive cutting and folding.